Via Kaus:
Kerry gets a Mulligan from CBS, whose producer gives him a second chance to nail a too-long sound bite. Does Bush get do-overs? It’s bias I tell you! … Actually, of course, it’s the institutional needs of CBS–they have to have something to go on the news. The old strategy for a candidate was to say only one usable thing every day, and then the nets would have to go with that. Kerry may be pioneering a new strategy of giving the networks nothing usable, thus reducing them to utter desperation, after which they will probably give him free expert wording tips and accept a soundbite of twice they length they had originally planned…
Instapundit asks: “Is it Bias?”
Of course it is bias- but like most media bias, it is not bias because towards the left or the right, it is a built-in bias towards laziness. Most reporters don’t know much, don’t care much, and if given the choice, will take the easy way out. And the reporting shows it.
JKC
John-
You don’t know how right your last paragraph is.
On the other hand, you ARE a communications prof… I guess you do know.
But either way, what has often been labeled as a biased media is really inept reporting.
Lex
Working journalist here: One other form of bias, to which you allude, is the bias toward a particular story structure in TV news. God knows I’ve seen times when a TV reporter could say, “Our cameras followed Candidate X today, but not once did he say anything both coherent and short enough to fit within the context of a 40-second segment,” but somehow that’s never what ends up on the 6:00 news.
JKC
Just remember, Lex: 99 times out of 100, the term “television journalist” is an oxymoron.
Ralph Gizzip
Don’t you mean an oxygen sucking moron?
CadillaqJaq
Are y’all referring to the White House correspondents?
(Rhetorical question)
Klug
Hey, uh, does that 26% unemployment rate for Dayton seem a little too high?
Klug
Okay, this link says that the rate is 6.7% in Dayton:
http://www.internest.com/rylanddayton/rylanddayton8820.asp
That’s still pretty high, but not the ‘Great Depression’ level of 26%.
Far North
Isn’t it pathetic that U.S. forces could kill or capture bin Laden right now but we havn’t yet because GWB is waiting for the maximum political moment — just like the top gun landing on the aircraft carrier.
Lex
JKC: You do not have to tell me. I’ve been in newspapers for 20 years. ;-)
Slartibartfast
“Isn’t it pathetic that U.S. forces could kill or capture bin Laden right now but we havn’t yet because GWB is waiting for the maximum political moment — just like the top gun landing on the aircraft carrier.”
Actually, they have him in custody right now, and are waiting for the right moment to “find” him.
Slartibartfast
I should have noted that this fact is a tip-top secret, so don’t tell anyone.